This blog will post detailed news items about GLBT issues. Some of the issues include the "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and gay marriage. Please note that my main website is DOASKDOTELL.COM (link on my Profile).

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About Me

Since the 1990s I have been very involved with fighting the military "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and with First Amendment issues. Best contact is 571-334-6107 (legitimate calls; messages can be left; if not picked up retry; I don't answer when driving) Three other url's: doaskdotell.com, billboushka.com johnwboushka.com Links to my URLs are provided for legitimate content and user navigation purposes only.
My legal name is "John William Boushka" or "John W. Boushka"; my parents gave me the nickname of "Bill" based on my middle name, and this is how I am generally greeted. This is also the name for my book authorship. On the Web, you can find me as both "Bill Boushka" and "John W. Boushka"; this has been the case since the late 1990s. Sometimes I can be located as "John Boushka" without the "W." That's the identity my parents dealt me in 1943!

The mention of civilian employees is important. After my college expulsion in 1961, getting a
top secret security clearance became a big deal. I actually served in the Army as a draftee
(sheltered by my education) 1968-1970 but was transferred to Fort Eustis out of
the Pentagon under bizarre circumstances in September 1968. As a civilian employee of NAVCOSSACT in the
Washington Navy Yard (1971-1972), I was interrogated about any risk of “blackmail”
and the end result of my top secret security clearance investigation was
ambiguous. I left and went to “private
industry”.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Today the International Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission reports on a police raid, still illegal, of a gay and lesbian rights workshop near Kampala, in this press release, link.

Ugandan authorities claim that promoting gay rights is a violation of "domestic law". Previous media coverage has reported that Ugandan culture regards avoidance of procreation as "killing one's family". It has also reported participation by some of the US religious right.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

MSN published an article Friday on where companies stand on
equal rights for LGBT employees. It discussed five “progressive” employers and
five that were not.

There is a typo in the writeup on Google, which has always
been very supportive, both on same-sex marriage and DADT repeal, as long as I
recall.

An unpleasant result is the lack of progress, according to
the article, at ExxonMobil after Mobil was merged into the company, which has
major presence in both northern Virginia and Dallas.

When I transferred from USLICO to purchasing company
ReliaStar in Minneapolis in 1997, I found a major emphasis on diversity at
ReliaStar then, which continued after the purchase by Netherlands-based ING in
2000. As I recall, same-sex partner benefit
became available in 1998.

Monday, June 18, 2012

I visited Baltimore’s Pride Festival in Druid Hill Park
yesterday. It was very similar to the
festival during my last visit in 2010.

In the 1990s, Baltimore held the small festival Sundays in a
recessed level plain in the park, also near the old Memorial Stadium.

You pay $5 to park, on a maze of unnamed streets that
crisscross the park, leading to the Zoo.

Blue Angels flew overhead, sometimes drowning out the
hip-hop and then Balinese concert on the stage.

The Libertarian Party had a booth, and told me that the
person at the DC booth had been Montgomery County congressional candidate
(District 5 – that’s not “District 9”) Arvin Vohra (Facebook site). His page says bluntly, “if somebody else’s
gay marriage threatens your heterosexual marriage, you are too weak and too
stupid to live in a free society”. He also says that government has no place in defining or licensing marriage (as with the famous GLIL Quill essay "Licensed Expired" by Gene Cisewski in 1996). But
that’s something I remember about my 1961 college expulsion from William and
Mary. My presence in the dorm was viewed
as a “threat” to the “normal function” in the future of other guys. The
military gay ban was at one time partly based on a somewhat similar belief. Vohra apprears to be in the education business
with a company that reminds me of the Khan Academy. The link for his company is
here.

The festival, while small, was heavily attended, maybe a few
thousand people. There were volleyball
courts at the site (reminding one of DC’s old bar “Tracks” in the 1990s), and
there were “hunger games” all the time.

HRC had a small booth. There was a large presence of volunteers garnering support for a successful outcome from the marriage referendum in November.

One of the cars, a pickup, had a banner that supported the recent repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and at the same time said that the owner had served in Iraq.

I also noticed that some Maryland auto license plates have support for marriage equality written into the plate. I don't know how much this endorsement costs.

Druids were "priests" in prehistoric Britain, according to Wikipedia. That's an interesting name for a venue.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Baltimore Pride occurs on Father’s Day weekend, maybe not an
irony any more. In fact, until the mid 1990s, it was held before DC’s Pride,
which used to be held the weekend of Summer Solstice.

This year, the block party extended down Charles Street to
the Baltimore Washington Monument park, with parking lots used for more vendors
and concessions. The Eager street area
was packed, as usual. This year, there was no dance tent on the west side of
Eager, but there was a kind of hip-hop dancing in the area. The sight reminded me of the closing pages of
Arthur C. Clarke’s “Childhood’s End”, as a group mind forms – it’s never been
made into a movie.

There were more Washington Nationals’ caps in the crowd than
those of the Baltimore Orioles. But, at
the same time, the Nats were dropping their second straight to the Yankees. Saturday night, an Orioles' pitcher was tossing a one-hitter in Atlanta.

It seems that the Orioles are usually on the road during
Baltimore Pride; driving to the site and parking in the Penn Station garage
(nothing was on the street) was a trial anyway.
There was a jet air show over the harbor area. This is the Blue Angels Air Show, commemorating the War of 1812. A flotilla of jets flew very low over I-95 at about the 695 interchange, looking like UFO's.

The Hippo opened its dance floor at 9 PM, and used the main
entrance, rather than the Charles St entrance, as in past year. It was pretty
lively by 10:30.

A lot of people wore purple t-shirts supporting Maryland's "Civil Marriage Law" which will be challenged by referendum in November.

Friday, June 15, 2012

I got a cell call today from a company offering a Marriage
Equality Pendant. It would seem to fit well with wide-open shirts, but then so do dog-tags. Remember those in the Army? (That's 1968-1970 for me.)

The website for the product is here. Zoom-enabled photographs are available there.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

NBC Washington is reporting that the Richmond Circuit Court has appointed Tracy Thorne-Begland to a judgeship to fill an open position. The General Assembly failed to ratify Thorne's appointment but no one else filled the position. The NBC4 story is here. (See earlier story here May 15.) Thorne's appointment holds only until the next legislative session starts in 2013.

NBC4 is also reporting that the Pentagon plans an event in the next few weeks to honor the accomplishments of LGBT servicemembers. This should help solidify the "repeal", regardless of the outcome of the 2012 elections.

(Friday, according to WJLA, there was a reception at the White House for LGBT leaders. More details are forthcoming.)

SLDN on YouTube: 3 minute film, "Steve and Josh"

Picture: The Hotel Jefferson in Richmond (2004 personal photo): I spent my first night there in 1968 (before renovation) after being sworn in to the Army.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Monday, Cheryl Wetzstein reported on the front page of The
Washington Times on two studies that question previously held positions that
children raised by same-sex couples do as well as those raised by married
(opposite sex) parents, link here.

One study came University of Texas sociology professor Mark
Regnerus. The other study also came from “Social Science Research” and
criticizes the parameters of an accept American Psychological Association
report (I found an older link from 2004 here).

The studies maintain that the APA focused on higher income,
usually female-couple families, which may be more stable for other demographic
reasons (as in “The Kids Are All Right”).
How many same-sex couples with children have lower incomes?

A basic policy question remains. In a society with many institutionalized and
foster children, should adoption by same-sex couples be encouraged? Otherwise, many children might go without
families at all. Another question: should
birth surrogacy be encouraged from those who can afford it (Clay Aiken).

In another area, Log Cabin Republicans are reporting that “Americans
are not “doing fine” without ENDA”, here.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Back in the good old days of the 1990s (the era of the 1993
March on Washington), Pride Festival was usually held around the 20th
of June, the Summer solstice, and the March occurred on Sunday, mid day, as the
parade ended around the P-Street beach and the festival was held in a field
above N Street. With green grass around,
it wasn’t as hot. In fact, on a cloudy
Pride Sunday in 1991, it was downright cool.

In those years, Baltimore’s Pride happened first, and
Philadelphia’s was in May. NYC’s is
always the last Sunday in June, because that’s when the Stonewall Raid happened
in 1969, on a Thursday night near the end of June.

Minneapolis always does the last weekend in June, with a
two-day Loring Park fair that is one of the largest physically in the
nation. The March is always on
Sunday. The Festival follows up on a
similar May Day festival in Bloomfield park.
In 2002, it was 102F on the Pride Fair grounds.

Dallas always held its march in September, when I lived
there in the 1980s.

Yesterday’s festival in Washington DC was very hot, because
of the blacktop on Pennsylvania Ave.

Many advocacy orgs had booths. I wonder who the hunk was speaking for the
Libertarian Party. (I have since been told it's Arvin Vohra, candidate for Congress in Maryland.

There were several booths regarding military issues near the entrance, such as SLDN.

There mow are other organizations dealing with families of military members with same-sex partners.

There were some performances: the end stage, and arts stage, and a Joy of Motion dance,.

as with this segment.

Movie distributor TLA Releasing was present

as was the festival Reel Affirmations.

The issue of HIV Prevention is still around:

as is the idea of a vaccine some day.

Some people don't look quite as good in summer sunlight as in dark shadows. Remember the conclusion of the "Gurrelieder".

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Saturday morning (June 9, 2012), Randi Kaye on CNN is reporting on a terrible case
in Florida, which has a law requiring schools to report bullying to
parents. A boy, targeted by anti-gay
bullying, attempted to hang himself. His parents found him and he wound up with
severe brain damage. The parents are suing the school district for the son’s
injuries, because they were never informed about the problem first.

I arrived about 10:10 PM and was surprised to find a slow
line outside the premises on a weekday night. Metro stops at midnight, but the
event was to go until 1 AM. It took
about 25 minutes to get in, and once inside, I found the place as packed as the
Abbey in West Hollywood a couple weeks ago.

I wondered why the event wasn't held at Phase 1's larger space on 22nd St NW (the old Apex-DC).

Yes, there was an inflatable wading pool, filled with jello,
and women really were wrestling, and there really was a referee. They pretty much followed the rules.

The Nationals had just won as I got in line; the ballpark
isn’t too far away.

By the way, it seems that "Capital Pride" (link) is spelled with an "a", not an "o", to refer to the Capitol itself.

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